Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

by Georgiana Fullerton

side ananchor and a few green leaves (symbols of hope), show I may yetflourish, because my lord is alive; though, by reason of his absenceand unkindness, I mourn as a lone turtle-dove. But the bareboughs and broken boards on her side signify that her hopes are whollywrecked by the death of the duke, for whom she doth mourn without hopeof comfort or redress."

  The pathetic manner in which Lady Arundel made this speech moved mealmost to tears.

  "If Philip," she said, "doth visit me again at any time, I will hangup this ingenious conceit where he should see it. Methinks it willrecall to him the past, and move him to show me kindness. Help me,Constance," she said after a pause, "for to compose such an answer asmy needle can express, which shall convey to this royal prisoner boththanks, and somewhat of hope also, albeit not of the sort she dothdisclaim.'"

  I mused for a while, and then with a pencil drew a pattern of a liketree to that of the Scottish queen's design; and the dove which didtypify the Countess of Arundel I did represent fastened to the branch,whereon she sat and mourned, by many strings wound round her heart,and tied to the anchor of an earthly hope, whereas the one which wasthe symbol of the forlorn royal captive did spread her wings towardthe sky, unfettered by the shattered relics strewn at her feet. LadyArundel put her arm round my neck, and said she liked well thisdesign; and bade me for to pray for her, that the invisible strings,which verily did restrain in her heavenward motions, should not alwayskeep her from soaring thither where only true joys are to be found.

  During some succeeding weeks I often visited her, and we wroughttogether at the same frame in the working of this design, which shehad set on hand by a cunning artificer from the rough pattern I haddrawn. Much talk the while was ministered between us touchingreligion, which did more and more engage her thoughts; Mr. Bayley, aCatholic gentleman who belonged to the earl her husband, and whom shedid at that time employ to carry relief to sick and poor persons,helping her greatly therein, being well instructed himself, andhaunting such priests as did reside secretly in London at that time.

  About the period when Basil was expected to return, my health wasagain much affected, not so sharply as before, but a weakness andfading of strength did show the effects of such sufferings as I hadendured. Hubert's behavior did tend at that time for to keep me ingreat uneasiness. When he came to the house, albeit he spake butseldom to me, if we ever were alone he gave sundry hints of apersistent hope and a possible desperation, mingled with vaguethreats, which disturbed me more than can be thought of. MethinksKate, Polly, and Muriel held council touching my health; and thencearose a very welcome proposal, from my Lady Tregony, that I shouldvisit her at her seat in Norfolk, close on the borders of Suffolk,whither she had retired since Thomas Sherwood's death. Polly, who hada good head and a good heart albeit too light a mind, forecasted thecomfort it should be to Basil and me, when he returned, to be so nearneighbors until we were married (which could not be before some monthsafter he came of age), that we could meet every day; Lady Tregony'sseat being only three miles distant from Euston. They wrote to himthereon; and when his answer came, the joy he expressed was such thatnothing could be greater. And on a fair day in the spring, when theblossoms of the pear and apple-trees were showing on the barebranches, even as my hopes of coming joys did bud afresh after longpangs of separation, I rode from London, by slow journeys, to BanhamHall, and amidst the sweet silence of rural scenes, quiet fields, anda small but convenient house, where I was greeted with maternalkindness by one in whom age retained the warmth of heart of youth, Idid regain so much strength and good looks, that when, one day, a horsemen, when I least thought of it, rode to the door, and Iturned white and red in turns, speechless with delight, perceiving itto be Basil, he took me by both hands, looked into my face and cried:

  "Hang the leeches! Suffolk air was all thou didst need, for all theydid so fright me."

  "Norfolk air, I pray you," quoth my Lady Tregony, smiling.

  "Nay, nay," quoth Basil. "Itdoth blow over the border from Suffolk."

  "Happiness, leastways, bloweth thence," I whispered.

  "Yea," he answered; for he was not one for to make long speeches.

  But, ah me! the sight of him was a cure to all mine ailments.

  CHAPTER XXI.

  It is not to be credited with how great an admixture of pleasure andpain I do set myself to my daily task of writing, for the thought ofthose spring and summer months spent in Lady Tregony's house doth stirup old feelings, the sweetness of which hath yet some bitterness init, which I would fain separate from the memories of that happy time.

  Basil had taken up his abode at Euston, whither I so often went andwhence he so often came, that methinks we could both have told (formine own part I can yet do it, even after the lapse of so many years)the shape of each tree, the rising of each bank, the every winding ofthe fair river Ouse betwixt one house and the other. Yea, when I nowsit down on the shore, gazing on the far-off sea, bethinking myself itdoth break on the coast of England, I sometimes newly draw on memory'stablet that old large house, the biggest in all Suffolk, albeit homelyin its exterior and interior plainness, which sitteth in a greenhollow between two graceful swelling hills. Its opposite meadowsstarred in the spring-tide with so many daisies and buttercups thatthe grass scantily showeth amidst these gay intruders; the ascendingwalk, a mile in length, with four rows of ash-trees on each side, thetender green of which in those early April days mocked the sober tintsof the darksome tufts of fir; and the noble deer underneath the oldoaks, carrying in a stately manner their horned heads, and dartingalong the glades with so swift a course that the eye could scarcefollow them. But mostly the little wooden bridge where, when Basil didfish, I was wont to sit and watch the sport, I said, but verily him,of whose sight I was somewhat covetous after his long absence. And Imind me that one day when we were thus seated, he on the margin of thestream and I leaning against the bridge, we held an argument touchingcountry diversions, which began in this wise:

  "Methinks," I said, "of all disports fishing hath this advantage, thatif one faileth in the success he looketh for, he hath at least awholesome walk, a sweet air, a fragrant savor of the mead flowers. Heseeth the young swans, herons, ducks, and many other fowls with theirbroods, which is surely better than the noise of hounds, the blast ofhorns, and the cries the hunters make. And if it be in part used forthe increasing of the body's health and the solace of the mind, it canalso be advantageously employed for the health of the soul, for it isnot needful in this diversion to have a great many persons with you,and this solitude doth favor thought and the serving of God bysometimes repeating devout prayers."

  To this Basil replied: "That as there be many men, there be also manyminds; and, for his part, when the woods and fields and skies seemedin all one loud cry and confusion with the earning of the hounds, thegallopping of the horses, the hallowing of the huntsmen, and theexcellent echo resounding from the hills and valleys, he did not thinkthere could be a more delectable pastime or a more tuneablesound by any degree than this, and specially in that place which isformed so meet for the purpose. And if he should wish anything, itwould be that it had been the time of year for it, and for me to rideby his side on a sweet misty mornings to hear this goodly music and tobe recreated with this excellent diversion. And for the matter ofprayers," he added, smiling, "I warrant thee, sweet preacher, that aswholesome cogitations touching Almighty God and his goodness, andbrief inward thanking of him for good limbs and an easy heart, havecome into my mind on a horse's back with a brave westerly wind blowingabout my head, as in the quiet sitting by a stream listing to thefowls singing."

  "Oh, but Basil," I rejoined, "there are more virtues to be practisedby an angler than by a hunter."

  "How prove you that, sweetheart?" he asked.

  Then I: "Well, he must be of a well-settled and constant belief toenjoy the benefit of his expectation. He must be full of love to hisneighbor, that he neither give offence in any particular, nor beguilty of any general destruction; then he must be exceeding patient,not chafing
in losing the prey when it is almost in hand, or inbreaking his tools, but with pleased sufferance, as I have witnessedin thyself, amend errors and think mischances instructions to bettercarefulness. He must be also full of humble thoughts, not disdainingto kneel, lie down, or wet his fingers when occasion commands. Thenmust he be prudent, apprehending the reasons why the fish will notbite; and of a thankful nature, showing a large gratefulness for theleast satisfaction."

  "Tut, tut," Basil replied, laughing; "thinkest thou no patience beneedful when the dogs do lose the scent, or your horse refuseth totake a gate; no prudence to forecast which way to turn when the issuebe doubtful; no humility to brook a fall with twenty fellows passingby a-jeering of you; no thankfulness your head be not broken; no loveof your neighbor for to abstain in the heat of the